One point separates Top Fuel rivals on final weekend

Friday, Nov. 13, 2009

NHRA Top Fuel driver Tony Schumacher and crew chief Alan Johnson have been invincible.

The two combined to win five straight Top Fuel championships over the last five seasons, several coming in dominating fashion.

But during last offseason, Johnson and Schumacher parted ways.

Johnson left the U.S. Army team and, with the backing of Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad Al-Thani, started his own team.

Johnson brought with him that successful U.S. Army crew, while getting two-time Top Fuel champion Larry Dixon to pilot the dragster.

In the U.S. Army camp, Mike Green took over as the crew chief for Schumacher.

Now, with one race left in the 24-race season, it has come down to Schumacher and Green against Dixon and Johnson for the 2009 Top Fuel championship.

''Twelve months ago, Tony was running away from everybody and everybody else was racing for second place," Dixon said. "So having the opportunity to be in a car that could possibly win the Full Throttle championship, I am excited."

"Two great teams, two great drivers, two great crew chiefs. It’s just a great battle. The fans are going to get their money’s worth," Schumacher said.

"This is the Super Bowl. This is it," Schumacher said.

With five wins this season, including a victory in Baytown at the O'Reilly Spring Nationals, Schumacher has 2,485 points and leads Dixon, who also has five wins this season, by just one point.

And if these two falter in this weekend's Auto Club NHRA Finals in Pomona, Calif., Cory McClenathan sits in third, just 48 points back of Schumacher.

The other provisional No. 1 qualifiers at the 24th and final race in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season were Robert Hight (Funny Car), Mike Edwards (Pro Stock) and Karen Stoffer (Pro Stock Motorcycle).

Hight and the Auto Club Ford Mustang team all but secured their first career NHRA Full Throttle Series world championship with a pace-setting 4.093 at 309.34. He entered the weekend with a 105-point lead over Ashley Force Hood and if he maintains at least a 101-point lead through qualifying he will clinch the title.

“That was huge; I’m pretty sure that 4.09 will stay in the show, and that’s the first step,” Hight said. “This last week and a half has gone by so slow since Vegas. We want to get out there and get going."

In Pro Stock, Edwards and the A.R.T./Young Life team effectively locked up their first career NHRA Full Throttle Series championship with the pace-setting 6.637 at 209.46 mph. He will be crowned once points are awarded after the fourth and final round of qualifying Saturday.

“The pressure’s off a little,” Edwards said. “I had a week to think about the disappointment I had in (not wrapping up the championship) in Vegas and get my stuff together and do a better job and hopefully win our first championship. It’s not officially done, but I’ve never been this close in my dreams and it’s pretty special.”

If Edwards maintains the No. 1 position, it would be his 16th and that would match the all-time single-season high in NHRA history, previously set by Greg Anderson in 2004.

In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Stoffer earned the provisional No. 1 aboard her GEICO Powersports Suzuki with a 6.982-second pass at 191.70 mph.

“That’s just one hit and the first time out and a lot of people were spinning the tire, so I don’t think this really shows anything about the potential,” Stoffer said. “But the next three qualifying runs will show us more."

Qualifying continues Friday and Saturday with Rounds 2-4 before the 16-car fields are set for Sunday’s final eliminations.

ThatsRacin.com contributed.

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